Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-05-13


hind il.
9Begins to look as though there were some
thing in the story after all, Uncle Horace"
said the exultant Leo, and rejecting ON tho
mysterious Negroes head and the equally mys-
FERROUS stone work made no direct reply.
"a country like Africa" said, dis sure to
be full of the relics of long dead and forgot
ten civilizations. Nobody knows tho ago of
the Egyptian civilization, and very likely it
had oifshoots. Then there were tho Babylo-
mans, and the Phnnicians, and the Persians,
und all manner Of people, all more or less
civilized, 10 say nothing of the Jews whom
everybody wants nowadays. 1t is possible
that they, or any one Of them, may have had
colonies or trading stations about here. Re
member those buried Persian cities that the
consul showed us at Kilwa."
aQuite so,n said Leo; shut that is not what
you said before"
@Well, what is to be done nowP asked,
turning the conversation
As no answer was forthcoming we pro-
ceeded TO tho edge OF the swamp and looked
over it. 1t was apparently boundless, and
vast flocks of every sort of water fowl came
flying from its recesses till It was sometimes
difficult to see the sky. Now that the sun
was getting high, it drew thin. sickly looking
clouds of poisonous vapor from the surface
of the marsh and from the scummy pools of
stagnant water.
@Two things arc clear to me-" said, ad-
dressing my three companions, who stared at
this spectacle in dismay, sfirst, that we can't
60 across there Qpointed to the swamp,
"and, secondly, that if we stop here we shall
certainly die Of fever"
"That's as clear as haystack," said job
sVery well, then; there are two alternatives
before us. One is TO bout ship and try and
run for some port in the whaleboat, which
would be a sufficiently risky proceeding, and
the other TO sail or row on up tho river, and
see where we como to-"
81 don't know what you arc going to do"
said Leo. setting his mouth, "but am going
up that river"
job turned up tho whites Of his eyes and
groaned, and the Arab muImured "Allahl"
and gfoaned also. As for me, l remarked,
sweetly, that as we seemed to be between the
devil and the doep sea, it did not much matter
where We went. But in reality l was as
anxious to proceed as Loo. The colossal
negro's head and tho stone wharf had excited
my curiosity TO nn extent of which was
secretly ashamed, and was prepared to
crafty it at any cost. Accordingly, having
carefully fitted tho mast, restowed the boat,
and got out our rifles we embarked. Fortu-
nately the wind WINS blowing on shore from
the ocean SO we were able to hoist the sail.
Indeed, we afterward found out that as a
general rule the wind set on shore from day
break for some hours, and of shore again at
sunset, and the explanation that l offer of
4. 4. l.. l.,rfl
dew and the night the hot dir rises, and the
draught rushes in from the sea, till the sun
has once more heated 1t through. At least
that appeared to be the rule here.
Taking advantage Of the favoring wind we
, sailed merrily up the river for three or four
hours. About midday the sun grow intensely
hot and the stencil drawn up by 1t from the
! marshes which the river drains was some
thing too awful and caused US instantly to
swallow precautionary doses Of quinine
Shortly afterward the breeze died away alto
gether, and as rowing our heavy boat against
stream in the heat was out of the question,
we were thankful enough to get under the
shade of group Of trees-a species of willow
that grew by the edge of the river, and lie
there and gasp till at length the approach OF
sunset put a period to our miseries. Seeing
what appeared to be an open space Of water
ahead of US, we determined to row there be-
fore settling what to do for the night. Just
as we were about to loosen the boat, however,
beautiful water buck, with great horns
curving forward and white stripe across the
rump, came down to the river to drink, with
out perceiving us hidden away within fifty
yards under the willows Leo was the first
to catch sight of it, and being an ardent
sportsman, thirstlng for tho blood of big
game, about which be had been dreaming for
months, he instantly stiffened all over and
pointed like setter dog. Seeing what was
the matter handed him his express rifle, at
the same time taking my own.
4Now, them" 1 whispered, "mind you don't
miss.
"Misslp he whispered back, contemptuously;
u could not miss II tried"
He lifted the rifle, and the roam colored
buck, having drunk his fill, raised his head
and looked out across tho river He was
standing right against tho sunset sky on
little eminenco or ridge Of ground that ran
across the swamp, evidently favorite path
for game, and there was something very
beautiful about him.
! Bangl Away he goes with mighty bound.
Leo has missed him Bangl right under him
again Now for a shot / must have one,
though he is going like an arrow, and hun
dred yards away or more. By Jove! over
and over and over. "Well, l think I've
wiped your eye there, Master Leo say,
struggling against the ungenerousa cxultation
that In such a supreme moment Of ones ex-
lstence will rise in the best tutored sports
mans breast.
"Confound you, yesl" growled Leo and
then, with that quick smile that is one of his
charms lighting up his handsome face like a
ray of light, 81 beg your pardon, old fellow
/ congratulate you; II was lovely shot, and
mine were vile"
We got out of the boat and ran to the buck,
which was shot through the spine and stone
dead. 1t took us quarter of an hour or
more to clean IL and cut of as much OF the
best ment as we could carry, and having
packed this awny, we had barely light enough
TO row up into the lagoon like space into
which, there being q hollow in the swamp,
tho river here expanded. Just as the light
vanished we cast anchor about fifty yards
from tho edge Of the lake, We did not dare
to go ashore, not knowing il we should find
dry ground to camp on, and greatly fearing
tho poisonous exhalation from the marsh,
which we thought we should be freer from on
the water Sowe lighted n lantern and made
our evening meal of another ported tongue
in the bost fashion that we could, and then
prepared to GO to sleep, only, however, to
find that sleep was impossible. For whether
they were attracted by the lantern, or
by the unaccustomed smell of white man,
for which they had been waiting for the last
thousand years or So know not; but GER
tainly we were presently attacked by tens Of
thousands OF the most bloodthirsty, perth
nacious and huge mosquitoes that i ever saw
or read Of. In clouds they came and pinged,
md btIzzcd, and bit till we were nearly mad.
Tobacco smoke only seemed to stir them into
amerrier and more active life, till OF length